Lovely Little Mushrooms

We all get stuck in a rut sometimes and feel like we don't have any creativity to pull out of our hats, right?  When that happens I ask A-chan what she would like in her bento for the next day.  Rarely has this backfired but in this case...yeah.  She asked for mushrooms, one boy and one girl.  What the heck?!  That was really no help, but thanks.  So now I needed to come up with an idea for 'shrooms and I had nothing.  Really.  Zip.  Ah, but I have books.   Inspiration found, I thought, and pulled out all of my charaben books.  They are all in Japanese which I can't read to save my life but hey, I can still look at the pictures and get ideas!  But...no mushrooms.  Gah.  In desperation I turned to Pinterest.  And there a beam of light came down from on high to illuminate one of AkinoIchigo's bentos with some cute mushrooms.  I loved it and had a great time coming up with this bento which is totally inspired by hers. Crisis averted.

In the bento:  Rice with homemade furikake, blackberries, carrot leaves, tofu and broccoli stirfry, feta chunks and an apple bunny.

The mushrooms were made from provolone cheese and a pink egg sheet that I distressed a bit with a toothpick to look more 'shroomish.  They have nori faces, more pink egg sheet for cheeks and the girly mushroom has a bow cut from carrot.  I think they came out really well.  More importantly A-chan loved them!

We are having a blast at the NanoWriMo challenge.  A-chan has around 450 words out of the 900 word goal that she set for herself.  I can't believe she's already half way there!  My word count is around 17,000 out of a total 50,000 to meet the challenge.  The biggest surprise so far has been the fact that my grammar and punctuation skills are not as good as I'd thought they were!

4 Star Inarizushi

A-chan is staying home sick today.  She woke up with bright red cheeks and a fever.  I suspected something was amiss last night when she didn't feel like finishing her Valentine's Day pancake at dinner.  That has never happened before!  Her bento had already been made so she gets to eat it at home.

In the bento: Carrot ribbons, a piggy containing feta cheese, steamed broccoli, a bunch of grapes, a container of raspberries and four inarizushi with carrot stars.

Carrot ribbons are one of the fastest, easiest ways to pack carrots in a bento.  They fit into whatever space is needed and they just look cool.  I love looking at the fabric reflected on the contours of this box!

It's the Circus!

This bento was completely unplanned.  When I woke this morning and realized that I'd put not one second's thought into the bento for today, there was a moment of panic.  I rallied with the first cup of morning coffee and managed to pull together a few ideas. Since I had no plan, I decided to try and use some picks that I don't often get to use.  The loveliness of the veggie hot dogs is something of a miracle but I am rather pleased with them!

In the bento: Bowtie pasta sprinkled with feta cheese, black olive slices and carrot stars, veggie hot dogs, steamed broccoli, chunks of peaches, a black olive and carrot circle.

The seal balances three circus balls made from slices of the largest black olives that I have ever seen.  A-chan chose the can labeled 'Colossal' and they do indeed match that description.  Carrot stars and nori star centers make for a neat decoration.  Balancing happily, the elephant is on top of another circus ball made from carrot and black olive.

My husband recently let me know that he does not wish for our marriage to continue.  It was quite a shock and I'm still shaken.  I will be continuing to make bentos, of course, and to post when I can.  My posting might be a bit erratic for a while as I adjust to a new schedule.  I'm embarking on an adventure and going back to school!  I have only just applied and still have to be accepted, and I also must take a placement test in two weeks.  Demonstrating good study habits will be good not only for myself but also for A-chan. Plus,  school gives me an excuse to make more bentos for myself.

Love Bunny

I have decided that the exacto knife is the bento maker's Sonic Screwdriver.  That thing is awesome!  This morning instead of playing it safe and cutting hearts in the apple as usual, I took the adventurous route and used the exacto knife to cut the heart shapes instead. Eureka!  Clean edges and no bruising means that the perfect apple carving tool is finally within my grasp.  *Insert sinister laugh here*

In the bento: Miniature pancakes, a container of feta, carrot hearts, Morningstar Farms sausage links, apple, sugar snap peas, a lemon wedge, and blackberries. The little monkey container has strawberry icing inside.

The bunny face was made with nori, carrot, and provolone cheese with strawberry jelly for the cheeks.  The pancakes are part of my freezer stash - Frozen miniature Eggo pancakes.  They are easy to cook on early mornings but I still wish that I could make homemade pancakes.  One day I will learn, but for now I won't try my hand at burning more.

A Heart-full bento

This bento turned out to have a theme, though I didn't know it until I was taking the picture.  Hmm.  I guess it's almost Valentine's Day!  Oh boy, we get to make chocolates!  A-chan is already gushing about the chocolate making tradition and has started counting down the days.  I was informed this morning at breakfast that there are only 19 days til Valentine's.

In the bento: A heart shaped container filled with chickpeas and feta, steamed broccoli, baby carrots, two bamboo picks with veggie hot dog slices and provolone cheese hearts, a lemon slice, two potato and cheese pierogies, pear slices, blueberries and a tiny tomato on a heart pick.

I find it difficult to make the heart shaped container fit into my bentos so it usually sits unused in my bento gear box.  However, this bento was designed around it!  It was the first thing to go in and I worked everything else around it.